Psychpathology

What is statistical infrequency?

A disorder is abnormal if its frequency is more than two standard deviations away from the mean incidence rates represented in a normally distributed bell curve.

Who proposed FFA?

Rosenhan and Seligman

What is failure to function adequately?

When a persons current mental state is preventing them from leading a ‘normal’ life. They do not obey social and interpersonal rules and are in distress or are distressing and their behaviour has become dangerous.

What is deviation away from social norms?

Straying away from the social norms specific to a certain culture. There are general norms, applicable to most cultures and culture-specific norms.

Who came up with deviation from ideal mental health?

Jahoda

What is deviation from ideal mental health?

Deviating from the ideal mental health. She set out a set a set of a criteria:

* being able to self-actualise
* having an accurate perception of ourselves
* not being distressed
* being able to maintain normal levels of motivation to carry out day- to day tasks
* Displaying high self esteem.

What are behavioural characteristics of phobias?

* Panic - heightened psychological arousal in the hypothalamus with increased activity in the sympathetic branch.
* Avoidance - negatively reinforced
* Endurance - exposed to it for large periods of time.

What are emotional characteristics of phobias?

* anxiety
* unawareness that the anxiety response is irrational.

What are cognitive characteristics of phobias?

* selective attention - remains focused on the phobia
* irrational beliefs - cause of irrational beliefs of the anxiety.
* cognitive distortions - does not perceive the stimulus accurately.

What are behavioural characteristics of depression?

* changed activity levels
* aggression
* changed patterns of sleeping and eating.

What are emotional characteristics of depression?

* lowered self esteem
* constant poor mood
* high levels of anger.

What are cognitive characteristics of depression?

* absolutist thinking
* selective attention towards negative events
* poor concentration.

What are behavioural characteristics of OCD?

* compulsions
* Avoidance behaviour

What are emotional characteristics of OCD?

* guilt
* disgust
* depression
* anxiety

What are cognitive characteristics of OCD?

* acknowledgement that there anxiety is excessive and irrational
* development of cognitive strategies to deal with obsessions and obsessive thoughts.

Who came up with the behavioural approach to treating phobias and what did he suggests.

Mowrer: Suggested that phobias are acquired through classical conditioning and then are maintained through operand conditioning.

Which experiment is good to look at for the behavioural approach to phobias?

Watson and Rayner little albert study: White rats.

What does the behavioural approach for phobias look at?

Phobias practice avoidance behaviour, they avoid the associated fear, by avoiding such an unpleasant consequence. This is through negative reinforcement.

What is systematic desensitisation?

Is a behavioural therapy designed to reduce phobic anxiety through gradual exposure to the phobic stimulus.

What does SD compose of?

It relies on the principle of counter coding. This works due to reciprocal inhibition as it is impossible to be relaxed and anxious at the same time.

* They need to compile an anxiety hierarchy ordered from least to most nerve wrecking.
* patients work their way up through the hierarchy
* it is only cured when the patient is calm at the highest level.

What is flooding?

Flooding is a behavioural therapy designs to reduce phobic anxiety in one session through immediate exposure to the phobic stimulus.

What happens during flooding?

* in a secure environment where the patient cannot escape.
* No option of avoidance behaviour.
* if the behaviour is not reinforced the phobia cannot be maintained.
* this is because it is physically impossible to maintain a heightened state of anxiety for a prolonged period of time.

Who came up with the negative triad?

Beck 1967.

What is faulty information processing?

When depressed people attend to the negative aspects of the situation and ignore the positives. ‘Black and white’ thinking.

What is negative self schema?

A negative view that people have developed of themselves.

What consists of Becks negative triad?

* negative view of the world
* negative view of the future
* negative view of self.

What does Ellis’s ABC model mean?

A - Activating event

B- Irrational Beliefs (achieving perfection)

C- Emotional consequences

What is CBT?

It aims to identify and challenge irrational thoughts replacing them with more productive behaviours. Beck looks for thoughts and challenges them as irrational.

What does CBT aim to do

Aimed to test the reality of their beliefs. E.g They may set hw for them to record each time someone was nice to them and when next time they say that everyone hates them the therapist can point to this as counter evidence proving these thoughts as irrational. This is known as ‘patient as scientist’.

What does Ellis’s rational emotive behaviour therapy aim to do?

It aims to identify the patients thoughts and challenge them as irrational, leading to a vigorous argument. This aims to change the irrational belief and to break the link between negative life events and depression. Through behavioural activation patients are encouraged to engage in enjoyable activities to provide further counterbalance.

What is the definition of the genetic explanation for OCD?

The genetic explanation through the diathesis-stress model, suggests that some have a genetic vulnerability towards developing ocd.

What is a study that suggests this explanation for OCD.

Lewis et al found that of his OCD patients, 37% had parents with OCD and 21% had siblings with OCD.

How is OCD polygenic?

This says that OCD has many genes that work together. Taylor analysed previous studies and found out evidence of 230 genes may be involved in OCD. These are often associated with the functioning of neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin both used for mood.

Are there candidate genes in OCD?

There are candidate genes which increase a persons vulnerability to OCD. One of these is 5HT 1-D which is implicated in the efficiency of serotonin transport across synapses.

What parts of the brain are used for decision making for OCD?

* Abnormal functioning frontal lobe
* Parahippocampal gyrus associated with unpleasant emotions.

What are SSRI?

Selective serotonin re uptake inhibitors which help prevent the reuptake and breaking down of serotonin by the presynaptic neuron.

What are tricilyics?

Acts on various systems including the serotonin system and has the same effects as SSRI’s. However it has severe side affects.

What are SNRI’s?

They have more recently be used to treat OCD. These are different class of antidepressant and are a second line of drug to SSRI. They increase seretonin and nordrenaline.